Don't Be a Turkey - Be Sure to Buckle Up!

It was Thanksgiving Day 1992, I was feeling nervous about taking the
long drive with my two boys young boys out to the desert from Los
Angeles to visit my in-laws for the annual Thanksgiving family get
together. My daughter, the youngest was spending the weekend with her
best friends up in Solvang for the holidays, which later would turn
into a blessing.

I
called my Mom in the morning to wish her and my Dad a Happy
Thanksgiving and shared my unusual anxiety, actually pending doom
feelings about taking the drive. I had always been a confident driver
and never really worried about long drives or having an accident. She
reassured me, wished me a Happy Thanksgiving and off I went to the
desert to enjoy the family celebration. Were these feelings a
premonition or women's intuition?

It was a cold but perfect day
out in the Mojave, the drive out was spectacular. I love the desert and
the stark beauty of the Joshua Trees that stand out tall in the flat
and rolling landscape. My new Toyota Cressida drove like a dream, quiet
and powerful she cruised along to our destination safely.

A
dark a sad cloud hung over the DeVere family as we joined together to
celebrate Thanksgiving. The recent death of my children’s Father in a
car accident earlier that year was painfully on all our minds. We were
all still grieving. He lost control of his Corvette on a mountain road
after a few beers, while on vacation at the family cabin up in the
Sequoia’s and died instantly of a head injury, he was just thirty
eight. Perhaps this was why I was feeling so anxious about driving?

We
left for home in the twilight, filled with Grandma Cleo’s cooking, lots
of hugs and our heads filled with family stories shared in laughter and
tears from the entire family about “what a guy” Bert DeVere and his
adventure filled life.

The drive on Palmdale Highway 138, a two
land undivided road, was lined with cars coming and going like bumper
cars. I always hated this part of the drive and kept checking my speed
to stay at 55 MPH, which was not my normal routine driving practice.

After about ten minutes, still
feeling overly cautious, I looked over at my son in the front passenger
seat and noticed his seatbelt was not fastened and sharply told him to
“Put on your seatbelt, NOW!”, and glanced over my shoulder to make sure
my other son was buckled up!

Thirty seconds later a small car
driven by a drunken women with five children, only one two year old in
a restraint system, swerved from the oncoming traffic 50 feet in front
of me. There was no way to avoid the accident. I slammed on my brakes
to attempt to stop in time. Her oncoming speed and my oncoming speed
were equal to at least 110 miles an hour. Not enough time to stop.

That moment of impact will be inbedded in my soul forever. Three of the
five children were killed instantly. The woman driver killed her only
daughter and all three of her sister’s children. She survived along
with the two year old in the car seat and one other young boy cousin.

The
cars gratefully swerved off onto the desert floor out of oncoming
traffic, no other cars got caught up into the wreck. Once stopped I
sprang into Mother Bear protection mode to get us all out of the car
before a fire started, I kicked open the passenger door, climbed over
my son and pulled he and my son in the back seat out and away from the
car. I ran to the other car, she was alive. I asked her if she was okay
and peered into the car. The scene was gruesome; I smelled blood and
all the children were deathly quiet. A stranger pulled me aside and
told me he would take care of things here.

Shock started to
set in as I walked back and collapsed beside my two boys on the desert
floor. It was freezing cold. We were forty five minutes away from the
nearest hospital. More strangers pulled over to assist. Because we all
survived some of these strangers made angry accusations as they walked
passed, they assumed I was the at fault driver. I protectively gathered
my son’s to me and tried to keep them warm. A kind couple in a motor
home brought blankets, covered us and stayed with us and spoke
comforting words until help arrived. I will be ever grateful.

We
were all transported to the local hospital by ambulance. In the
emergency room I watched the Highway Patrol officers go to her bed
speak quietly to her for a few minutes and then began a bone chilling
chorus of her wailing; “I killed my sister’s babies. I killed my
sister’s babies”.

The decision to check my son’s seatbelts
thirty seconds before the accident saved his life. By the grace of God,
we all walked away from the accident with severe seatbelt injuries,
sore for several weeks and left with dreams, nightmares and feelings of
inappropriate survivor guilt that would haunt me for years. I asked
myself a thousand times, “What could I have done differently to avoid
hitting them?” I replayed the accident in slow motion over and over
again and again in my mind to find an answer that was not to be found.

I
read about her in the paper, she was cited for three counts of
vehicular manslaughter. How would she live with the consequences of her
drunk driving? My heart ached for this woman, her sister and her
family, those innocent children.

Remember me and my story this
Thanksgiving. Fasten your seat belts, make sure to use and install a
proper car seat for your children, drive defensively and don’t drink
and drive. The lives of your family and other’s are at stake!

I am so grateful the lives of my two
son's were spared and that we will be celebrating another joyous
holiday together along with my precious grandchildren.

Wishing you all Happy and Safe Thanksgiving travels!

For more trips for safe road travel during the Thanksgiving weekend go here: